Occlutech, a leading European developer of septum occluders such as PFO and ASD devices as well as other innovative, minimally invasive cardiac implants, today announced that it got a favorable ruling in patent litigation with St Jude-AGA Medical from the District Court of Milan in Italy.

In the ruling, the court stated that Occlutech is not infringing the Italian part of patent EP0808138 as alleged by St Jude-AGA Medical.

The ruling again confirms that Occlutech has a unique, original technology that does not infringe the AGA-patent brought forward in Italy.

Tor Peters, CEO of Occlutech GmbH says; "We have spent years developing and patenting our unique technology. We are convinced that when applied in cardiac occluders and many other minimally invasive implants it is a big step forward offering patients significant advantages."

Earlier, courts in The UK, The Netherlands, Germany & Sweden have come to the same conclusion as in Italy. The rulings in the UK and Germany related to this patent are final. The Swedish and Dutch rulings have been appealed by AGA. The Italian ruling can still be appealed.

Occlusion devices are used to treat structural heart disease, including structural heart defects and abnormalities such as Atrial Septal Defects, (ASD), and Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO, an undesired channel between the heart's two atria, present in up to 25% of the population), in minimally invasive, non-surgical procedures. The market for PFO occluders is expected to expand significantly as the link between PFO and stroke, that is the third most common cause of death, as well as severe migraine becomes increasingly well documented.